Organizing social network messages based on temporal characteristics

ABSTRACT

A method for organizing messages may include detecting, by a processor, receipt of each new message of an activity stream comprising a group of messages and determining, by the processor, a tense associated with each new message. The method may also include associating, by the processor, the tense with each new message. At least the tense may be used for organizing the group of messages of the activity stream. The method may additionally include adding, by the processor, each new message and the associated tense of the message to the activity stream.

BACKGROUND

Aspects of the present invention relate to social networks, and moreparticularly to a method, system and computer program product fororganizing social network messages based on temporal characteristics ofthe messages.

Online social networks are a universal mechanism to connect people andinformation in logical and organized ways which enable sharing andprocessing of information between the members of the social network.Common mechanisms for sharing and processing information on onlinesocial networks may include, but is not necessarily limited to, a wallor virtual wall where users or member of the social network can postmessages for other users or members; an activity stream which may be alist of messages or posts received by a user or member and may alsoinclude a list of messages or posts sent by the user or member; atimeline that may chronologically list a series of events, and profilesof users or members that can be accessed for information about aparticular user or member. These mechanisms enable users or members torapidly share information with others and gather information from othersin the network.

Studies have shown that an online social network user can maintainstable relations with about 100 to about 200 people. As users developsocial networks and normalize around a stable number of relations, eachmessage a network contact or member posts may be carefully evaluated sothe most stable social networks may be maintained. The number ofmessages a user or member may see each day may exceed about one hundredmessages a day for a low participation network, and for a highparticipation network the number of messages viewed by a user may exceedabout a thousand messages. Accordingly, important messages, such asmessages that may require action, indicate future work, or otherinformation of significance to the user may be lost or overlooked by theuser. Therefore, a need exists for a solution which enhances the abilityof the user to see important posts or messages from other users in thenetwork.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method fororganizing messages may include detecting, by a processor, receipt ofeach new message of an activity stream comprising a group of messagesand determining, by the processor, a tense associated with each newmessage. The method may also include associating, by the processor, thetense with each new message. At least the tense may be used fororganizing the group of messages of the activity stream. The method mayadditionally include adding, by the processor, each new message and theassociated tense of the message to the activity stream.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system fororganizing messages may include a processor and a social networkingmodule operating on the processor. The social networking module mayinclude a message organizing module. The message organizing module maybe configured to perform a set of functions that may include detectingreceipt of each new message of an activity stream comprising a group ofmessages and determining a tense associated with each new message. Theset of functions may also include associating the tense with each newmessage. At least the tense may be used for organizing the group ofmessages of the activity stream. The set of functions may also includeadding each new message and the associated tense of the message to theactivity stream.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer programproduct for organizing messages may include a computer readable storagemedium having program instructions embodied therewith. The programinstructions are executable by a device to cause the device to perform amethod that may include detecting receipt of each new message of anactivity stream including a group of messages. The method may alsoinclude determining a tense associated with each new message andassociating the tense with each new message. At least the tense may beused for organizing the group of messages of the activity stream. Themethod may additionally include adding each new message and theassociated tense of the message to the activity stream.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is further described in the detailed descriptionwhich follows in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way ofnon-limiting examples of embodiments of the present invention in whichlike reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the severalviews of the drawings and wherein:

FIGS. 1A-1B (collectively FIG. 1) are a flow chart of an example of amethod for organizing social network messages in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is an example of an activity stream of a user in a socialnetwork prior to organizing messages based on temporal characteristicsof the messages in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2B is an example of the activity steam in FIG. 2A after organizingthe messages based on temporal characteristics of the messages inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of an example of a system configuredfor organizing messages based on temporal characteristics of themessages in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a system ormethod performed by the system may optimize a presentation of messagesin a social network by aggregating the set of messages posted by a userand the users followers or members of the user's social network;identifying the tenses of the language (past, present, future) used inthe messages; and organizing the presentation of the messages based onat least one of the immediacy of the messages and tenses of themessages. As described in more detail herein, the tense of the messagesmay be determined by natural language processing (NLP) or by othertechniques of analyzing text in a message to determine the content ofthe message. The immediacy of the messages may be determined bydetecting any request, occurrence of an event or other item in any ofthe messages that may call for a response, performance of some action,etc. within some period of time. As used herein, message may refer to apost, update or other item in an activity stream associated with asocial network. An activity stream may refer to a group of messagesposted on a wall or virtual wall of a social medium, a group of messagesreceived by a user and transmitted by a user, or any other mechanism forsharing information and interaction between members of a social network.Accordingly, an activity stream may be a list of messages, posts,updates or the like received by a member of a social network and mayalso include any message, posts or updates created by the member or userof the social network.

The system and method of the present invention as described herein mayalso be used for optimizing the presentation of any set of messages orother communications. For example, a search of an entire social networksystem may be performed to identify tenses, immediacy and other temporalcharacteristics. The messages may then be organized (filtered, sorted,etc.) based on these temporal characteristics using the featuresdescribed herein to facilitate a user identifying those messages thatmay have a higher priority or importance or may need more immediateattention and not get lost or overlooked in a large volume of messages.

The system and method may also detect future tense usage when a user iscreating a message. The system and method may prompt the user to set atime or time period for the message to expire or for the message to bechanged, such as changing the tense of the message or immediacy of themessage. Associating the set time period for the message to expire orthe message to be changed, allows the system or method to moreeffectively process messages and optimize the presentation of themessages to the user as described herein.

FIGS. 1A-1B (collectively FIG. 1) are a flow chart of an example of amethod 100 for organizing (filtering, sorting, etc.) social networkmessages in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Inblock 102, receipt of a new message or each new message associated witha social network may be detected. The new message or each new messagemay be detected by a processor of a server hosting a social networkingmodule or system configured to perform the functions and operationsdescribed herein, or by a processor of a computer system of a user ormember of the social network or both. The new message may be generatedby the user or may be received from another member of the socialnetwork.

In block 104, a tense associated with the new message or each newmessage may be determined. The tense associated with each new messagemay include using natural language processing (NLP) to determine atleast one of a past tense, a present tense, and a future tenseassociated with each new message. NLP characteristics may be extractedfrom each new message, such as N-grams, parts-of-speech N-gams, nouns,grammars and other characteristics based NLP. The tense may also bedetermined by any other technique for analyzing the text in a message toautomatically determine the content and tense of the message.

Determining the tense associated with each new message may also includedetermining any nuances based on a language of each new message. Somelanguages do not have or use tenses and other languages may not beeasily characterized as including or expressing past, present and futuretenses similar to English. For example, determining any nuances based onthe language of each new message may include determining any derivationsof the tense associated with each new message based on the language ofeach new message by translating each new message to English or anotherpredetermined language using a classifier-based tense model forstatistical machine translation of each new message. Other machinelanguage translation tools may also be used to determine nuancesassociated with the tense of the message based on the message being in adifferent language than that being used to analyze the messages fororganizing the messages based on tense.

In block 104, an immediacy of any item or action in each new message orassociated with each new message may also be determined. The immediacyof each new message may be determined by analyzing each new messageusing NLP or another language processing techniques to determine if themessage includes a request for performance of a task, an event scheduledto occur at a future time or other time sensitive item or action. A duedate for completion of the task, a date for occurrence of the event orother timing of the item or action may also be determined from themessage using NLP or other techniques. An indication of the immediacymay be assigned or associated with each new message in response to themessage including some time sensitive item or action and the due date ortiming for the event from a current time. For example, the indicationmay include associating the due date for completion of the task or thedate for occurrence of the event or other time sensitive item or actionas determined from analysis of the message. A default due date or timefor occurrence may be assigned to a particular new message fordetermining the immediacy in response to the particular new message notincluding a due date for completion of the task or time for occurrenceof the event or other time sensitive action.

In block 106, at least one of a time of posting each new message to thesocial network or a time of viewing or first viewing of each new messageby a member of the social network or a particular member of the socialnetwork may be determined. The time of posting or time of first viewingof each new message by any member or a particular member of the socialnetwork may be referred to as temporal characteristics associated withthe message. The temporal characteristics of the message may be used forapplying a decay or a decay function to the message. The decay or decayfunction may be used for organizing the messages in an activity streamof a user as described in more detail herein.

In block 108, the decay or decay function may be associated with themessage or applied to the message. The decay or decay function mayinclude one of invalidating the message or changing the tense of themessage based on a duration of time from at least one of when themessage was posted to the social network or when the message was viewedor first view by any member of the social network or by a particularmember of the social network. The particular member may a member of thesocial network for whom the message may be specifically addressed orintended.

In block 108, an indication of the tense, decay, immediacy and any othercharacteristic may each be associated with each new message fororganizing the messages in the activity stream of the user. A label,identity or other indicator may be assigned or associated with eachmessage for indicating the tense, decay and immediacy. The indicator mayalso be metadata that indicates tense, decay and immediacy of themessage. Accordingly, the messages may be configured for performance ofan organizing operation that may include filtering, sorting or otheroptimizing arrangement of the messages in the user's activity stream tofacilitate the user identifying those messages that may have a higherpriority or importance or may need more immediate attention and not getlost or overlooked in the volume of messages that may be in the user'sactivity stream.

In block 110, each new message may be aggregated or added to theactivity stream of the user or recipient of the messages along with theindication or indications of the tense, decay and immediacy of eachmessage. As previously discussed, the activity stream may also includemessages generated by the user or recipient. The method 100 may thenreturn to block 102 and may proceed as previously described as each newmessage is received or generated by the user.

In block 112, a request may be received from the user to present anactivity stream associated with the user. The request may include theuser accessing a social media network application or module. Theactivity stream of the user may be presented in a graphical userinterface (GUI) on a computer system or client of the user. Referringalso to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2A is an example of a GUI 200 including anactivity stream 202 of a user in a social network prior to organizingthe messages 204 based on temporal characteristics of the messages inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In block 114, an organization feature may be selected by the user to runan organizing operation on the activity stream, such as activity stream202 in FIG. 2A. An example of the organization feature that may beselected for running the organizing operation on the activity stream 202may be a drop-down menu, such as the drop-down menu 206 labeled “Filterby:” in FIG. 2A. In another embodiment, the feature for selecting theorganizing operation may be an icon, a button or any other feature thatmay be used in the computing arts for selecting performance of aparticular function or operation.

In block 116, the messages 204 in the activity stream 202 may beorganized based on tense, decay, immediacy or other temporalcharacteristics or non-temporal characteristics in response to the userselecting the organization feature 206 in the GUI 200. Referring also toFIG. 2B, FIG. 2B is a GUI 208 illustrating an example of the activitysteam 202 in FIG. 2A after organizing (filtering, sorting, etc.) basedon temporal characteristics of the messages 204 in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, themessages 204 may be listed in priority order based on temporalcharacteristics, such as tense, decay, immediacy or the like. Messagesthat have been invalidated or expired because of the decay or decayfunction may be filtered or removed from the list of messages 204 andthe remaining messages may be listed in priority order based on thetemporal characteristics including tense and immediacy. A single messageincluding multiple tenses may be filtered and sorted by each tense.

In block 118, temporal characteristics may be applied to limit thenumber of messages that may be presented. For example, messages postedwithin a preset time period, such as the past 24 hours, a preset numberof days or other preset time duration, may be filtered or removed andnot presented as part of the organized messages in the activity stream.The temporal characteristics may also be applied based on apredetermined group of users, such as a particular organization ordepartment within an organization or company.

In block 120, the activity stream including the organized (filtered,sorted, etc.) messages may be presented. As previously discussed, theGUI 208 in FIG. 2B is an example of the organized activity stream 202 ofFIG. 2A in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of an example of a system 300configured for organizing messages (sorting, filtering, etc.) based ontemporal characteristics of the messages in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The method 100 of FIGS. 1A-1B maybe embodied in and performed by the system 300. The system 300 mayinclude a processing device 302. The processing device 302 may be aserver or similar processing device. The processing device 302 mayinclude a processor 304 for controlling operation of the processingdevice 302 and for performing functions, such as those described hereinwith respect to filtering and sorting messages of a social network. Theprocessing device 302 may also include a file system 306 or memory. Anoperating system 308, applications and other programs may be stored onthe file system 306 for running or operating on the processor 304. Asocial networking module 310 or system may also be stored on the filesystem 306 and may be compiled and run on the processor 304 to performthe functions for organizing messages of a social network similar tothat described herein. The method 100 of FIGS. 1A-1B may be embodied inthe social networking module 310 and performed by the processor 304 whenthe social networking module 310 is compiled and run on the processor304.

The social networking module 310 may include a message organizing module312 for organizing message of the social network of a user based atleast on temporal characteristics of the messages as described herein.In another embodiment, the message organizing module 312 may be separatefrom the social networking module 310 and operate in coordination withthe social networking module 310 to perform the operations describedherein. Similar to that previously described, the message organizingmodule 312 may be configured to organize the messages of a socialnetwork by filtering and sorting the messages based at least on temporalcharacteristics that may include a tense, decay and immediacy associatedwith each of the messages similar to that described with reference toFIGS. 1A-1B.

The processing device 302 may also include one or more input devices,output devices or combination input/output devices, collectively I/Odevices 314 in FIG. 3. The I/O devices 314 may include, but are notnecessarily limited to, a keyboard or keypad, pointing device, such as amouse, disk drive and any other devices to permit a user to interfacewith and control operation of the processing device 302 and to accessthe social networking module 310 or system. At least one of the I/Odevices 314 may be a device to read a computer program product, such ascomputer program product 316. The computer program product 316 may besimilar to that described in more detail herein. The social networkingmodule 310 may be loaded on the file system 306 from a computer programproduct, such as computer program product 316.

A member of a social network or user 322 of the system 300 for socialnetworking may use a computer system 324 or communications device toaccess the processing device 302 or server and social networking module310 or system. The computer system 324 or communications device may beany sort of communications device including a mobile or handheldcomputer or communications device. The computer system 324 may include aprocessor 326 to control operation of the computer system 324 and a filesystem 328, memory or similar data storage device. An operating system330, applications 332 and other programs may be stored on the filesystem 328 for running or operating on the processor 326. A web orInternet browser 334 may also be stored on the file system 328 foraccessing the processing device 302 or server via a network 336. Thenetwork 336 may be the Internet, an intranet or other private orproprietary network.

In accordance with an embodiment, a social networking application 338,feature or module may also be stored on the file system 328 and operateon the processor 326 of the user's computer system 324. The socialnetworking application 338 may include a message organizing module 340for organizing messages of a social network in which the use 322 is amember similar to that described herein. In another embodiment, themessage organizing module 340 may be a separate module from the socialnetworking application 338 and operate in cooperation with the socialnetworking application 338 to perform the functions described herein.The social networking application 338 operating on the computer system326 may interface with or operate in conjunction with the socialnetworking module 310 or system on the processing device 302 or serverto perform the functions and operations described herein for organizingsocial media messages. Accordingly, social networking application 338operating on the computer system 324 may perform some of the functionsand operations of the method 100 and social networking module 310operating on the server 302 may perform other functions of the method100. Some embodiments of the present invention may include only thesocial networking module 310 on the processing device 302 or server, andother embodiments may include only the social networking application 338on the client computer system 324 or communications device.

The computer system 324 may also include a display 342, a speaker system344, and a microphone 346 for voice communications. One or more userinterfaces may be presented on the display 342 for controlling operatingthe social networking module 310 and social networking application 338and for performing the operations and functions described herein. Forexample, the graphical user interface 200 described with reference toFIGS. 2A and 2B.

The computer system 324 may also include one or more input devices,output devices or combination input/output devices, collectively I/Odevices 348. The I/O devices 348 may include a keyboard or keypad,pointing device, such as a mouse, disk drives and any other devices topermit a user, such as user 322, to interface with and control operationof the computer system 324 and to access the social networkingapplication 338 and social networking module or system 310 on server302. The I/O devices 348 may also include at least one device configuredto read computer code from a computer program product, such as computerprogram product 316.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of embodiments ofthe invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the”are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that theterms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to embodiments of the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of embodiments ofthe invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of embodiments of the invention and the practicalapplication, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art tounderstand embodiments of the invention for various embodiments withvarious modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art appreciate that anyarrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may besubstituted for the specific embodiments shown and that embodiments ofthe invention have other applications in other environments. Thisapplication is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of thepresent invention. The following claims are in no way intended to limitthe scope of embodiments of the invention to the specific embodimentsdescribed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for organizing messages, comprising: aprocessor; a social networking module operating on the processor, thesocial networking module comprising a message organizing module, themessage organizing module being configured to perform a set of functionscomprising: detecting receipt of each new message of an activity streamcomprising a group of messages; determining a tense associated with eachnew message; associating the tense with each new message, at least thetense being used for organizing the group of messages of the activitystream; determining, for each new message, at least one of a time themessage is posted to a social network and a time the message is firstviewed by a member of the social network; associating, with each newmessage, a decay function based on at least one of the time the messageis posted to the social network and the time the message is first viewedby the member of the social network, wherein associating the decayfunction to each new message comprises one of invalidating or changingthe tense of each new message based on a duration of time from at leastone of when each new message was posted to the social network and wheneach new message was first viewed by the member of the social network;and adding each new message and the associated tense of the message tothe activity stream.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the messageorganizing module is further configured to perform a set of functionscomprising: determining an immediacy associated with each new message;and associating an indication of the immediacy with each new message. 3.The system of claim 2, wherein determining the immediacy associated witheach new message comprises: detecting in each new message a descriptioncomprising at least one of a request for performance of a task and anevent scheduled to occur at a future time; detecting in each new messageat least one of a due date for completion of the task and a date foroccurrence of the event; and assigning to a particular new message adefault due date for determining the immediacy in response theparticular new message not including the due date for completion of thetask.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the message organizing module isfurther configured to perform a set of functions comprising organizingthe group of messages in the activity stream based on at least one ofthe tense, immediacy and decay function associated with each message inthe activity stream in response to a user selecting an organizationfeature.
 5. A computer program product for organizing messages, thecomputer program product comprising a computer readable storage mediumhaving program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructionsbeing executable by a device to cause the device to perform a methodcomprising: detecting receipt of each new message of an activity streamcomprising a group of messages; determining a tense associated with eachnew message; associating the tense with each new message, at least thetense being used for organizing the group of messages of the activitystream; determining, for each new message, at least one of a time themessage is posted to a social network and a time the message is firstviewed by a member of the social network; associating, with each newmessage, a decay function based on at least one of the time the messageis posted to the social network and the time the message is first viewedby the member of the social network, wherein associating the decayfunction to each new message comprises one of invalidating or changingthe tense of each new message based on a duration of time from at leastone of when each new message was posted to the social network and wheneach new message was first viewed by the member of the social network;and adding each new message and the associated tense of the message tothe activity stream.
 6. The computer program product of claim 5, whereinthe method further comprises: determining an immediacy associated witheach new message; and associating an indication of the immediacy witheach new message.
 7. The computer program product of claim 6, whereinthe method further comprises: organizing the group of messages in theactivity stream based on at least one of the tense, immediacy and decayfunction associated with each message in the activity stream in responseto a user selecting an organization feature.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein determining the tense associated with each new message comprisesusing natural language processing to determine at least one of a pasttense, a present tense, and a future tense associated with each newmessage.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the tenseassociated with each new message comprises determining any nuances basedon a language of each new message.
 10. The system of claim 9, whereindetermining any nuances based on the language of each new messagecomprises determining any derivations of the tense associated with eachnew message based on the language of each new message by translatingeach new message that is in a language other than English to Englishusing a classifier-based tense model for statistical machine translationof each new message.
 11. The system of claim 4, presenting the activitystream including the organized messages based on at least one of thetense, immediacy and the decay associated with each message.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, further comprising applying a temporalcharacteristic to each message in the activity stream to limit a numberof messages being presented, wherein the temporal characteristiccomprises a predetermined time period since the message was posted tothe social network.
 13. The system of claim 4, wherein organizing theplurality of messages comprises sorting a particular message comprisingmore than one tense by each of the tenses.
 14. The system of claim 1,wherein the set of functions further comprises prompting a user to set atime period for a particular message to expire.
 15. The system of claim1, wherein the set of functions further comprises prompting a user toset a time period to change the tense of a particular message.